From Up on Poppy Hill

The year is 1963, and Japan is preparing to organize the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the port city Yokohama we meet the teens Umi and Shun who go to the same high school. Shun is the editor of the school newspaper and very popular among the girls. Umi takes great responsibility at home with cooking and housework. These two main protagonists are very different, but fate works in mysterious ways. Umi and Shun meet in spectacular fashion and sweet music arises, but the real sparks does not occur without a generous round of complications and drama!

From Up on Poppy Hill is directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro, and unlike many of Studio Ghibli's films, this is not anime made for the smallest kids. It's characters are teens, and the film is also aimed at the teenage demography. Yet, From Up on Poppy Hill has the same magical and adventurous qualities as other Ghibli films. The result is a beautifully animated love drama, targeted slightly more towards youth and adults, but also great to be seen by children.

Goro Miyazaki (b. 1967) from Tokyo did not want to be an animator like his father, and worked as a construction consultant. But the paths of father and son crossed in the 90s, when Studio Ghibli was going to build an amusement park. A Ghibli producer was impressed with Goro's abilities as a draftsman and planner, and suggested that he tried his hand at directing. Debut Tales from Earthsea came in 2006.